GlaxoSmithKline to buy China's Nanjing MeiRui for around $70 million

Confirming earlier speculation of a buy in China (The Pharma Letter December 2), UK drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK) yesterday announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Nanjing MeiRui Pharma for a cash consideration of around $70 million.

90% of the share capital of MeiRui is to be acquired from Pagoda Pharmaceuticals and the remaining 10% from Allergon AB in a move to further expand GSK’s presence in China, one of the fastest-growing and most significant of the emerging markets.

GSK notes that MeiRui is a leading Chinese pharmaceutical business with a strong portfolio of urology and allergy products, including Prostat (a natural product derived from several extracts of rye pollen) for benign prostatic hyperplasia and SheNiTing (tolterodine, the active ingredient of Pfizer’s Detrol which now faces patent expiry) for overactive bladder syndrome. GSK will gain access to this portfolio of products, as well as MeiRui’s established sales and marketing platform and a manufacturing facility in Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, China.